Rookies Lo and Cisnero blew saves, while Keuchel — who entered Friday as the series finale starter Sunday — took the loss.

Astros manager Bo Porter said he used Keuchel because long reliever Lucas Harrell — who started Tuesday at Baltimore after former No. 1 starter Bud Norris was scratched — wasn’t available.

“Harrell has not had enough rest and I didn’t think we were going to bring him back on short rest out of the bullpen,” Porter said. “Keuchel has been well rested. He was the long guy going into tonight’s game. And once we got to that point, it was basically his game the rest of the way.”

Now, Keuchel’s expected to miss his start Sunday and the Astros may make another roster move so the club has a fill-in starter available to close out its longest road trip of the season.

Since Tuesday, the Astros have scratched two starters (Norris and Erik Bedard/Norris on Wednesday), promoted rookie Brett Oberholtzer from the bullpen to the starting rotation, turned Harrell back into a reliever and made Keuchel an extra-innings eater. Norris, the club’s former No. 1 starter, was also traded Wednesday.

“We’ll talk about it (Friday night) and going into (Saturday), then make the best decision for us,” said Porter, referring to his to-be-determined starting pitcher Sunday.

Notes

Second baseman Jose Altuve was available but not used because Porter didn’t want to risk a late-game injury.

The Astros recorded just seven hits in 13 innings and struck out 11 times while going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.